Former Nautilus Tv Studio May Have Found A Buyer

September 7, 1991|By Kevlin Haire and Rick Tonyan of The Sentinel Staff

LAKE HELEN — Negotiations are under way to sell the former Nautilus TV studio, which has been idle for five years.

''We're very close to an agreement to sell, but nothing has closed,'' Michael High, chief financial officer for Meritor Savings Bank of Philadelphia, owner of the $5.5 million studio, said Friday.

High would not identify the prospective buyer. John Smart, the mayor of Lake Helen, said Friday, however, that it is ZTV of New Castle, Del.

Smart said he met with ZTV officials and was told that they intend to bring 100 jobs to Lake Helen, which has a population of about 2,350.

ZTV officials could not be reached for comment. An employee who did not want to be identified said ZTV intends to produce Christian music videos and broadcast them 24 hours a day on cable television. The result would be similar to MTV, which broadcasts rock music videos, the employee said.

Smart said the agreement is ''a big plus for the community. We were hoping all these years for a clean industry, and we got a sanitized one.''

The 158,000-square-foot production complex was built in the early 1980s by Arthur Jones, inventor of Nautilus exercise equipment. The four large studios were used to produce equipment training films and syndicated TV programs.

Jones sold Nautilus in August 1986 to Ward International Co. of Dallas. Meritor Savings Bank obtained the studio two years ago after foreclosure proceedings.

The complex has video and audio recording studios, an animation computer, more than 15 TV cameras, 34 tape machines and a mobile production unit.

Former TV evangelist Jim Bakker looked at the studio in 1989 when he was seeking new headquarters for his ministry. That was before his conviction and imprisonment on fraud charges. Bakker was unable to reach an agreement with the owner.